LibDem Blogs - Archived!

I strongly urge you to take the time to read the series of articles by Jenni Russell published in the Guardian G2 section over the past three days. They are described as a "highly personal investigation into modern relationships" and they make sobering reading. What are friends for? (Monday) acknowledges that, for most of us, friendships have replaced family and explores an insecure world of

This is "women's week" at LSE so a number of LSE students were shadowing female MPs today. I had a delightful young woman called Frances who seemed to have enjoyed herself but I was a little uneasy as I had to desert her on a couple of occasions for meetings about the manifesto. Luckily she didn't seem to mind as there is always something going on here as an alternative sideshow. I did explain

Now this is what I don't get. Also on the order paper today was a motion suggesting that the House of Commons should make itself more accessible and giving an indication as to how this might happen. Good worthy stuff and who could possibly vote against such a thing? Some of the Tories! You may think "now there's a surprise" but I am looking forward to seeing the spurious justifications

Parliament was doing what it loves best today and talking about itself. For the past two years we have experimented with new "family friendly" hours. Actually the hours are only family friendly if your family is based in London and the consequence of the changes has been to try and fit more into a shorter working day. The Modernisation committee produced a report claiming that the new hours

A group of concerned parents travelled to London today to lobby me about this. It is one of those frustrating occasions when there is a limited amount that an MP can do because the decsion is ultimately made by local councillors. Anyway I suggested a couple of things I could do tho try and help and they seemed reasonably happy but the more I think about this school closure the angrier I

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the Conservative Assembly Member for North Wales, Mark Isherwood, indulged his love of the English language: It is because we all want to improve skill levels and help more people into quality jobs and sustainable employment, and because we must work with employers, employees and learners to provide the skills needed for employment, that we note the results of the first skills and employment action plan with regret, but not surprise. For this is a Minister who bestrides the stage like a female Flashman or a Roald Dahl headteacher, crushing dissent beneath her. ...

The story so far: Someone was run over with his own car in 2003 whilst it was being stolen. Another person was caught driving it the next day. On returning it to the owner it was found to have drugs in it. Clearly it cannot be proven that the person driving it actually stole it. However, the police state that the CPS indicate that it would be "abuse of process" to prosecute the driver for

Jane Hutt, the new Business Minister in the National Assembly previously spent five and a half years as Health Minister going through fire and brimstone in seeking to defend her record. Dealing with the weekly Business Statement therefore should be easy for her. As usual she was helped yesterday by the Labour Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside, Carl Sargeant, who is always willing to oblige with a diversion when one is needed: Carl Sargeant: As always, this side of the Chamber will support the business statement, as it allows excellent opportunity for debate. Provided that you ...

MPs have voted to restore late-night sittings on Tuesdays by a surprisingly large majority of 67. The Commons will now sit from 2.30 to 10.30 on both Mondays and Tuesdays. Some will see this as a retrograde step, as MPs will not be home to read Jack and Chloe a bedtime story on Tuesdays. But think again. There was an article in the Guardian this morning by Douglas Alexander and David Milliband in support of the status quo. But if the sharpest, most ambitious young ministers in a government want something, it is generally a good idea for ...

On page 3 of today's Guardian are five doodles by celebrities and analyses of their personalities by a graphologist unaware of their identities. The names of the artists are revealed upside down at the end of the article. I took one look at the second sketch, without reading any of the article, and identified it correctly as drawn by Charles Kennedy. My rather weak defence is that the

The Western Mail reports that the Labour MP for the Vale of Glamorgan inadvertently sent a letter soliciting support to the Barry-based Conservative AM, David Melding. The letter asked the Tory Health Committee Chair what "made him proud", talked of "a government with priorities that match yours" and suggested that Mr. Melding reflect on what happened under the last Conservative government. When confronted with the gaffe a Labour spokeswoman joked that Mr Melding, a keen supporter of more powers for the Assembly, was often out of step with his own party. "He doesn't agree with the rest of the ...